If a book comes out as a hardcover, the eBook should be no more then $9.99. When the book goes paperback regardless of price & format of paperback, the eBook should cost no more then $4.99. I think those prices are very fair.

I see your point but you are lumping too much together.

Example: Hardbound books vary in price and not just because of bindings, paper used, etc.

We might think in terms of average prices say of 9.99 for an eBook, but really that should be 9.99 for the average eBook. To make it simple let us aggregate in 3 classes. The more expensive hardbound book (on content alone or desirability) might cost in eBook form 15.99. Call that class 1. The greater number of hardbound books, Class II, say about 2/3s of the books would cost 9.99 in eBook form. And finally the lowest Class III might cost 5.99 in eBook form.

To summarize, most books (2/3s) fall in the larger category at 9.99. A third of the books will fall into either the higher or lower categories. Of course the actually percentages will vary.

We are still not considering the really extreme edges where certain books are snapped up by buyers who act like ravenous wolves at an unattended sheep ranch, or those books you have to just about give away to get a new author some attention. (Think of a scenario where you are driving through wolf territory in the snow on your sled and brother Jed is tossing out the little unwanted sheep into the surrounding woods and hollering "nice sheep, come and get them wolves, please!")

So the price system will still be mixed.

Earlier I only considered the used book market as a problem.
With paperbacks it becomes more complicated.
Sometimes books come first come out in nicer paperback if they won't have the sales numbers for a big pulp fiction printing. They never make it to hardbound.

I think that we have to let the market decide on these details. Used. Paperback, the Time the books has been out, General sales of the book, market issues, etc.

We still have the issue of used eBooks to deal with as well, but we don't have the time for that

And finally of course piracy in its many forms and what to do about that.

I think that we have to let the market decide on these details. Used. Paperback, the Time the books has been out, General sales of the book, market issues, etc.

Which is exactly what the Conspirators were trying to avoid doing.
They wanted to force the market to conform to their whim (and cost structure) and used a clearly illegal shortcut to get where they thought they wanted to be.

BTW, I like your sheep metaphors.
Too bad the BPHs and their apologists think *we* are the sheep.

Translation, Amazon makes its money in small chunks over a long period of time rather than big chunks up-front. It's long-tail thinking applied to their entire company.

So, the people that value amazon stock have to value them more as bonds or munis rather than short-term day-trader investments. And at a time of effective negative interest rates on bonds, Amazon's slow but steady approach obviously appeals to enough people to bid up their stock.

As Bezos says, its not a matter of a right way or a wrong way; just people liking *their* way. Whether it be consumers or investors. It is what it is and it is not going to change soon.

Some HarperCollins books at Amazon now appear to be priced by Amazon, not HC. The "This price was set by the publisher" disclaimer has disappeared. An example, Divergent has dropped from $9.99 to $7.29 while the $9.99 price remains at iTunes. $7.29 is not an Agency price; They stick with $x.99 prices.

Some HarperCollins books at Amazon now appear to be priced by Amazon, not HC. The "This price was set by the publisher" disclaimer has disappeared. An example, Divergent has dropped from $9.99 to $7.29 while the $9.99 price remains at iTunes. $7.29 is not an Agency price; They stick with $x.99 prices.

Were do I find that disclaimer? I cannot find it for Lee Child's _A Wanted Man_ with the price around $20.

Some HarperCollins books at Amazon now appear to be priced by Amazon, not HC. The "This price was set by the publisher" disclaimer has disappeared. An example, Divergent has dropped from $9.99 to $7.29 while the $9.99 price remains at iTunes. $7.29 is not an Agency price; They stick with $x.99 prices.

mean that Amazon have set the price then? If so notice that it is not $10.

Are you referring to A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel? It's published under agency by Random House in the US. Random House was not part of the collusion lawsuit...they can keep agency if they like. Edit: The price is $13.99.

Are you referring to A Wanted Man: A Jack Reacher Novel? It's published under agency by Random House in the US. Random House was not part of the collusion lawsuit...they can keep agency if they like. Edit: The price is $13.99.

Yes. But for me www.amazon.com does not say that the publisher have set the price and the price is: